I am going through a process of upgrading my new PC, Where as before (and with this PC) I built myself, unfortunately due to time issues (1 child, 1 on the way and high work commitments) I do not have the time to build any more.

Firstly I appreciate this is a US based board from what I can tell so my prices may be confusing to some of you.

the rig I have had built is still a quote so I will go ahead when they reopen after the holiday weekend.

This is for a quoted price of £1100 GBP and when I use my normal suppliers, Scan.co.uk, Ebuyer.co.uk and others I get a order cost of around £1000 so I am not saving a lot by custom build, without seeming big headed the time needed is worth more than that to me due to my wife being about ready to pop.

Opinions on this rig and case would be appreciated, I want to know how easy it'll be to pop another 5850 in to Crossfire this bad boy. also as far as rigs go how does it look?

But on a serious note, personally I wouldn't get a IDE DVD drive, get SATA. Also, while it's good a good chipset, why go with a 790 chipset board instead of a 890 chipset. They cost the same, and the 890 is the newer chipset.

But on a serious note, personally I wouldn't get a IDE DVD drive, get SATA. Also, while it's good a good chipset, why go with a 790 chipset board instead of a 890 chipset. They cost the same, and the 890 is the newer chipset.

For the case, I'd throw in a couple of suggestions, the CM 690 II advanced (there is the old one on your list) They may be cheap but the cooling and layout are aewsome. And the don't feel flimsy. I have a Haf 922 myself, really good case too (only downside is it isn't painted inside stock) The Nzxt tempest is great for its money too, other than that, I'd fancy the Antecs, great build, cooling and tons of options. The corsairs are good too, but the price...

The rest of the build is good, but like others have said before, ditch the IDE drive, in boards nowadays, you only get to connect 2 IDE's, so better leave it open for old HDD's if you've got some. And whats up with the usb ports? are you buying them? If so forget about it, your board and case will give you plenty of ports already.

For not going much above the pricing of yours and what seem's to be an major improvement on case layout I love the look of the NZXT Lexa S, I've not looked at all the other cases yet, but wanted to keep price a minimum for you.

EDIT: It also has hole's so you can thread your water pipes through the rear... the NZXT Lexa S is such a major improvement over the X-Blade.

It says intergrated 5.1 sound but as far as I know the mobo is 7.1 as standard.

Thanks for all the help people. The improvements look to be worth while, mobo changed, case changed and optical drive changed, this brings my total to around £1200 including postage to the Scottish Islands were I live.

Whoops, my bad. In that case I recommend you downgrade your ram to 4GB, 8 is currently too much. You can always add more later when your rig starts to slow down. Also, instead of going for the H50, get something cheaper, like the CNPS10X.

Whoops, my bad. In that case I recommend you downgrade your ram to 4GB, 8 is currently too much. You can always add more later when your rig starts to slow down. Also, instead of going for the H50, get something cheaper, like the CNPS10X.

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Unfortunately the website doesn't offer that cooler as a part, I'd add it myself but as I get a warrenty included I wouldn't want to void it.

My wife will also use the rig for CS5 and also multi tasking, for example I may play a game while she watches a movie via the HDMI output to the tv. Apart from cost is there any benefits in dropping the ram?

no, I would keep the RAM. are you overclocking? if not you can drop the h50 and keep stock cooling. the 1200 pushes enough air to keep just about anything cool. I do warn you though, with the fans on high its a bit loud (more than a bit). great case though.